So far away (interlude): Heritage
by TaleWeaver
Summary: Missing scene from 'No obligations' - knowing that Kyle now understands what it means to protect those who have placed their trust in you, Jim passes on a Valenti family heirloom


TITLE: Heritage  
SERIES: So far away (interlude)  
AUTHOR: TaleWeaver  
RATING: PG  
IMPROV: #3 fire -- shimmer -- reckless -- inspire  
FEEDBACK: Gimmee!  
DISCLAIMER: The Roswell characters were created by Melinda Metz and   
adapted for television by Jason Katims. Original characters and situations -   
including the Valenti family history mentioned here - are mine. The series   
title comes from the song by Dire Straits.  
SPOILERS: Series breaks off from canon after the opening credits of 'BiY'.  
PAIRING: Valentines - Jim/Kyle. Tess/Kyle overtones.  
SUMMARY: Missing scene from 'No obligations' - knowing that Kyle now   
understands what it means to protect those who have placed their trust in   
you, Jim passes down a Valenti family heirloom.  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Takes place a couple of hours before Tess and Kyle   
leave Roswell.   
MUSE-IC: "When you're gone' - Matchbox twenty, 'Sometimes I feel like a   
motherless child' -Van Morrison. (Available at Roswell Mp3's; it's the song   
playing during the Valenti/Jim Snr scene at the end of 'Into the woods')  
  
*  
  
Kyle sat in the backyard of his home and watched the sun set over the desert   
for the last time.  
  
He didn't think it was overly fatalistic to think this way; once he and Tess   
left Roswell tonight, he would see the sun set over the desert many more   
times. They might even come back to Roswell someday; he might even sit   
here again. But it wouldn't be his home any more. From now on, home   
would be someplace that he and Tess - and her baby - would make together.  
  
He knew that going with Tess was the right thing to do. Whatever she was to   
him, however he really felt about her, he knew that she needed him to back   
her in the days to come. He could barely admit to himself that he needed to   
be beside her just as badly. He didn't know when it had happened, but Tess   
had become the most important person in the world to him, and wherever she   
went was where he wanted to be.  
  
But he needed to say farewell to the last of his childhood, sitting beneath the   
tree he'd once hung a tyre from to swing on. He'd kissed Liz for the first   
time here. He'd curled up in a blanket and slept here the summer night after   
his mother left. Kyle leaned his head against the trunk and sighed as the sky   
bled yellow into orange into red, looking like it was on fire. He heard the   
approaching footsteps but didn't turn to look; he knew this tread as well as   
his own.  
  
*  
  
Jim Valenti grunted slightly as he sat down beside his son and watch the   
sunset with him for a minute. Mindful that Tess would be coming out soon,   
he nudged his son to get his attention. Kyle turned his head and smiled at   
him. The simple beauty of that smile took his breath away, as surely as the   
first time his son had smiled at him. The sense that this was the right time   
grew stronger.  
  
"What's up, Dad?"  
  
"Something I need to give you before you go. I wasn't sure when I'd be   
doing this, but now's the time."  
  
Kyle just looked at him enquiringly, and Jim placed the box he carried into   
Kyle's lap. It was square, about the size of two palms placed side to side   
against each other, and made of lovingly polished rosewood. Kyle slid off   
the lid, revealing an interior of black silk, cradling an antique sheriff's badge.   
It shone almost like new, and the colourful light sent an unearthly shimmer   
across the gleaming surface.  
  
By the sharp intake of his breath, Kyle recognized it; but Jim had a speech   
prepared, and he wasn't going to let it go to waste. "That's the badge of John   
Valenti - the first one of our family to be born on American soil. He was the   
most successful bounty hunter in Texas during the 1860's, and then he was   
pivotal in the history of the Texas Rangers, helping John B Jones rebuild the   
organization after the Civil War. But he always said that the work he was   
most proud of was when he was Sheriff of Mahony township. It got   
absorbed into Houston during the turn of the century, but his old house is still   
standing, as part of the Historical Register.  
  
"You're the seventh generation of Valenti men; out of the six before you,   
four of us - including John, your grandfather and me - have been lawmen.   
The other two went into government. John's grandson - my great-  
grandfather - used to tell me that one thing all the Valenti men have in   
common besides being only children, is that we understand what it truly   
means to protect and to serve those who have placed their trust in us.  
  
"I know that you don't care for Max very much, and I can understand why.   
But for me, Max Evans has brought so many good things into my life. The   
knowledge that my father wasn't crazy, and that I didn't have to be afraid of   
it either. He gave my son back to me. Not just after the shooting, but   
knowing the four of them has brought us back together, just when I was   
starting to fear that I'd lost you. But I know you understand me when I say   
that the most precious thing that Max Evans gave me - that he gave us - was   
Tess. She completes our family in a way that we haven't been since your   
mom left.  
  
"It may not be macho to say it," Jim broke off to smile at his son, who   
flashed him a matching smile in return, "But we both love her, and she loves   
us. Although I think it's in different ways."   
  
At this, a shadow flew across Kyle's eyes, and Jim suppressed a sigh; Tess   
and Kyle still weren't ready to see just what they were to each other. Once   
more, he cursed Nasedo for what he'd done to Jim's adopted daughter -   
warping her perceptions of 'love' and 'family' so much that even after   
Nasedo's death she had blindly followed his dictates, not seeing the love that   
Kyle held solely for her, or the love that grew for him in her own heart. Jim   
couldn't help but throw out a hint, and continued, "Tess is a Valenti, and one   
way or another she always will be. As long as I live, both you and Tess have   
a place to come back to and call home. I've told her that, but you need to   
make sure she really understands it. I can let you go today, because I know   
that you'll both take care of each other."  
  
Kyle looked down at the badge, sober-faced, and Jim wondered when the   
reckless boy who'd broken his leg falling out of this very tree had turned into   
the man before him. After he'd brought Michael, Maria and Isabel back   
from Tucson, Tess had told him how Kyle had censured Max. Knowing how   
loyal Kyle had become to their family of three had been Jim's first hint that   
this day was coming.  
  
"When my father was judged incompetent and I got his personal effects, this   
came too. But I didn't touch it. I just put it away in the family safe deposit   
box. I didn't so much as open the box all the way until the day after I made   
my first kill in the line of duty. That's when I felt that this was really mine,   
because that's when I truly understood all it stands for. Whenever I look at   
it, it inspires me to do my job that much better."  
  
"Remember when the Skins made everyone disappear?" At Kyle's nod, Jim   
added, "And you remember what I said - that I was in awe of you every day?   
Well, I still am, son. But never more than now, when I can pass this down to   
you knowing that it's the right time; because you understand at seventeen   
what I didn't understand until I was twenty-five. The legacy that goes with   
this badge - understanding the responsibility and the rewards that go with   
protecting those in your care. The honor it is to be chosen by others to care   
for them."  
  
Tears were shining in Kyle's eyes as he threw his arms around his father,   
burying his face in Jim's shoulder. Jim hugged Kyle tightly in return,   
knowing that the next time he hugged his son it would be from one adult to   
another.  
  
"I love you, Dad."  
  
"I love you too, son."  
  
*  
  
Tess Valenti stood at the kitchen window, a silent witness to the family ritual   
she didn't understand. Her hands were placed on her abdomen, and as she   
stroked it, she spoke to her baby.  
  
"See out there? That's your Grandpa Jim, and Kyle. I don't what Kyle's   
going to be to us in the end - whether he's always going to be your uncle, or   
if he's going to be your daddy someday. But either way, those two men are   
our family - our *real * family. They will stand by us and love us no matter   
what. That's what a family's for. They taught me that."  
  
She bent over the counter to sign the note she'd written.   
  
"Since Kyle and I won't be around to take care of you, I want to make sure   
that you have the resources to take care of yourself. You know a little about   
Nasedo and my life with him. Trust me, we'll manage without this just fine."  
  
After placing it in the envelope with the cashier's check for $30,000 she   
wrote 'Dad' on the front, and went to Jim's bedroom to leave it on his pillow,   
before she went outside to watch her last sunset in Roswell with her family.  
  
END 


End file.
